Girl with the burger tattoo

Umami Burger

So...  I was in LA this week and I had a free night on my hands.  I went on line and looked up "The Best Burger in LA".  I came up with Umami Burger.   Of course I've heard the word Umami before but was not sure what it was.  Called the 5th taste,  it still didn't make any sense to me.   So here it is right from their website--

What exactly is umami?Taking its name from Japanese, umami is a pleasant savoury taste imparted by glutamate, a type of amino acid, and ribonucleotides, including inosinate and guanylate, which occur naturally in many foods including meat, fish, vegetables and dairy products. As the taste of umami itself is subtle and blends well with other tastes to expand and round out flavors, most people don’t recognize umami when they encounter it, but it plays an important role making food taste delicious.

I realized that one of their locations was only 3 miles from my hotel.  I pulled out the GPS and jumped in the car.  Unfortunately the place was packed on a Thursday night.  I was hoping to get a spot at the bar but there were only 4 bar seats and all were taken.  I waited for about 15 minutes and after seeing no movement, I ordered my burger to go.  I got the Umami burger and sweet potato fries.   Once the burger was ready, I headed back to the hotel. 
So, I should have asked what was on the Umami burger.  It was topped with grilled onions, grilled tomatoes and mushrooms.  They were big mushroom that I think were Shitake but I'm not sure.  The thing is, I have a real dislike for slimy food.  I can't stand mushrooms when they are slimy.  I pulled those off the burger and chowed down.  Overall it was a pretty good burger.  They do a small version of the cheese skirt (not nearly as big as the Squeeze Inn cheese skirt.)  The meat was pretty tasty and the sauce was a sweeter version on ketcup.  The bun held together well.   I would give it an 8 on the burger scale.  But, the fries rocked!  The sweet potato fries were sprinkled with brown sugar or Cinnamon or a combination of both.  They were to die for.  I ate every single one and almost licked the paper.  The fries get a big 10.  
Next time maybe I can actually sit in the restaurant and eat!

5 Guys- 2011

Back in 2009, I wrote a review of 5 Guys burgers from my vacation on the East Coast. At that time they were east coast only. NOT ANYMORE! At the end of last year they expanded out to the west coast. I checked them out on line and it turns out they started in Arlington VA in 1986. I would have been living in Arlington at that time but don't remember hearing about them. In 2003 they started offering franchise opportunities and now have 725 locations in 40 states and Canada.

One opened recently in Stockton and since I was there yesterday for work I decided to give it a try. I hate that California now requires calories on the menu board for restaurants with multiple locations. Ugghh. The regular cheese burger was 800 calories. I choose the small burger and small fries. Still 550 for the burger and 600 for the fries. I think it is better to just not know. The burger was good.  Plus the small was plenty.  I could not have eaten the regular size if I had tried.   I got it pretty basic with just tomato and ketchup.  Sometime less is more and I like to taste the actual meat. The burger was tasty and the bun is slightly sweet.  The bun also held together nicely which is important when you like toppings.   I went back and read my old review and would agree with it. Good burger. Lot's of topping choices. Good bun.
The fries are delicious! Really excellent. slightly thicker and cooked perfectly. Plus salty. They only cook in peanut oil and I would give that a bug thumbs up.
the food was excellent... the calories.. not so much ;(

The Crocker

Last Sunday Jane and I went to check out the New Crocker Museum.
Jane just bought a yearly pass and with that she can take a guest. I have never been to the musuem. Seems hard to believe that I've lived here for 4 years and yet I've never checked it out. This past year it was expanded and improved. It is a beautiful building and they did a great job with the space and the light. After walking the main galleries, we checked out the cafe. I had read an article that said they had one of the best Burgers in town. It doesn't hurt that it is run by the Mulvaney's who own one of the top restaurants in Sacramento.
Jane ordered the burger and I got the pulled pork. Both were excellent. The burger was well cooked, had a nice flavor and the bun held together nicely. Not too greasy and not too messy. My pulled pork was also delicious. Extremely tender and served on a bed of soft polenta. Since it is just a cafe and not a burger joint, there wasn't a lot of options for toppings. I'm not sure that I am going to give it a rating. I'm starting to think the rating part of the blog isn't as effective as I would like. I haven't had too many bad burgers and it doesn't seem fair to rate a full scale restaurant against a greasy spoon burger joint. I'll have to figure that part out. Overall I'd give it a big thumbs up. The price was right ($9), the fries were yummy and the burger was tasty. If you want to experience a little art and have a nice lunch afterwards.... check out the Crocker!

Review

I was reading the Serious Eats blog (if you haven't check it out, you should. The link is on my page.) and I noticed they had a review for the Burger Bar. Kind of interesting because they said close to the same thing I did. The food was okay but the view was great. Glad to see I'm in good company :)
Check it out!

Burger Bar

I spent 3 days this week in beautiful SF. It had been a while since I had been in the city so it was nice to explore a bit. I ate dinner the first night at Hubert Kellers, Burger Bar. http://www.burger-bar.com/ I was excited because it was Hubert Keller and he is an incredible chef. But, once again I didn't order the right thing! What is wrong with me when I go to these fancy burger places? I think I get excited and decide to not order just the plain old burger. This time I went with the sliders because I thought it would allow me to experience more then one of his famous hamburgers.
The problem with sliders is that they aren't big enough to allow them to be cooked to order so they are almost always dry and slightly overcooked. It's just too hard to get a burger that small just right. And these were the smallest sliders I've ever seen! I should have gone with the full size burger and had the true experience. Shoot! One of the sliders was Buffalo, one was Angus and one was Country Natural beef. Over all they were average. The fries were the yummy skinny fries but nothing super special with them either. But... the dessert menu was to die for! They had a Nuttella Milkshake and a Twinkie milkshake on the menu. Plus, a Nuttella burger that was described as a donut with Nuttella in it. I ended up getting the Irish Coffee milkshake. It was Coffee icecream, Coffee Liquor, Irish Whiskey, Caramel sauce, chocolate sauce and Chocolate covered coffee beans. It was heaven in a cup!

One more plus for the restaurant.. I sat in the bar by the window overlooking Union Square. The view was fabulous.
I would give the burgers and fries a 5, the dessert a 10 and the view a 10. Since the burgers weigh the most in the rating, I'm going to give the overall experience a 7. Next time I'll try the full burger!

Squeeze Inn

We hit our first burger joint of 2011! John turned 17 last week and he wanted to celebrate at the Squeeze Inn. It is probably recognized as the #1 burger joint in Sacramento but I'm not sure if I agree with that. The burger is extremely yummy and cheesy. They are known for their cheese skirt. They pile on the cheese and the let it sit on the grill until a harden skirt is formed. Pretty darned good. I would give the burger a 9 out of 10. (Maybe a 9.5) but here is my issue... the place is always so darned crowded. If I have to wait close to an hour to get a seat and get my burger, it just makes me think I could go somewhere else. There are plenty of great burger places in town so it's not worth it. Sacramento is known as a great burger town and I think this one is just too hot! The burger is great, the fries are great, the service is actually pretty good but the crowd is crazy! And we went at 2pm. But the company i was with made it okay. The entire Hastings family went along for the celebration and that always makes it fun.


I decided it is one good burger a month. That's not going to totally ruin my "Good eating" plan. Maybe I just ask for extra veggie topping!

Total score- burger and fries- 9.5. Actual experience - 6. The food carries more weight so I'm giving it a total score of an 8.